2018 Rolls-Royce Phantom revealed

The most luxurious car in the world

2018 Rolls-Royce Phantom revealed

It’s not just priced like a rare piece of art, owners of the new Rolls-Royce Phantom will be able to hang their own favourite works in the cabin, too.

The covers were pulled from the all-new Phantom this morning, unlocking a new and ludicrous level of luxury for the deep-pocketed elite.

This eighth-generation car - and the first new Phantom since 2003 - is scheduled to arrive in Australia toward the end of 2017, and is tipped to wear a price tag that will leave $1 million in its hand-crafted rear-view mirror.

Considered the pinnacle model in the Rolls-Royce range, this new Phantom doesn’t disappoint, with a swag of ultra-luxury features, plenty of which are focussed on the opulent rear seats.

2018 Rolls-Royce Phantom Photo: supplied

The headline act, though - and what Rolls-Royce describes as a world first - is the new “Gallery” feature, a single, unbroken strip of glass that spans the length of the dash, from the passenger door to the driver’s binnacle.

Phantom customers can ask Rolls-Royce to mount anything they want behind the glass casing, be it artwork, ceramics, or even, as the brand’s design team suggested, a rare collection of butterflies.

“This is the next era in of Rolls-Royce,” the brand’s Director of Sales and Marketing, Fintan Knight, told Drive.com.au

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“Phantom has always been the conveyance for royalty, pop stars, captains of industry and some of the most powerful people on Earth. And now we begin the next chapter.

“It’s the culmination of eight years’ work, and the world’s ultimate luxury item.”

The Phantom is the first Rolls-Royce to be built on a new all-aluminium platform, dubbed the Architecture of Luxury, that will underpin all future models. Lurking under the bonnet is a twin-turbocharged 6.75-litre V12 that will generate 420kW and a staggering 900Nm - enough shove to propel the 2.6-tonne Phantom to 100km/h in an astonishing 5.3 seconds.

But those numbers are unlikely to matter to the car’s owners, most of whom will surely be riding in the back seat. And it’s there that this newest Rolls-Royce delivers its best party tricks.

The giant unit that separates the two rear seats is home to not one but two drinks cabinets, for example; a chilled section that houses a cold bottle of champagne and two flutes, and a second cabinet that stores a glass decanter and two whiskey glasses. The rear doors open or close automatically at the push of a button, while an electric foot rest rises magically from the carpeted floor on demand, too.

More than 130kg in sound insulation helps keep the outside world from invading the cabin ambience, while self-levelling air suspension and the brand’s Flagbearer system - a camera that scans the road ahead for imperfections, and prepares the suspension accordingly - promises a silky-smooth ride.

The new Phantom is a not-insignificant 5,762mm long in standard form, stretching to a whopping 5,982mm in the long wheelbase version, but much has been made of making it look less boxy (or less “architectural”, as the car’s designers put it) than the car it replaces, which polarised opinion on its 2003 debut.

2018 Rolls-Royce Phantom Photo: supplied

This new model is still dominated by it’s near-vertical grille - now even taller than the outgoing model - but the car’s lines have been softened, now sloping gently from the roofline to the tapered boot. The body line dissecting the front doors is a particular standout, starting ironed-crease sharp as it leaves the bonnet, but fading then disappearing as it passes through the rear doors.

The new Phantom is expected to arrive in Australian in the fourth quarter of 2017, with offical pricing yet to be confirmed.